Is the Ocean County GOP about to clean house or simply send a message about who’s boss?

TOMS RIVER − In an effort he says is designed to appeal to more grassroots Republicans in Ocean County − but his opponents fear is to settle old scores − party Chairman George R. Gilmore has released a list of potential candidates screening for county and legislative offices this year, including those who are challenging longtime incumbents.

The candidates list from Gilmore is unusual in that more than 25 people have asked to be screened for legislative or county offices that are already occupied by — in several cases — longtime Republican incumbents, who were always planning to seek reelection. The organization’s willingness to disclose such internal challenges without even being asked is also unusual.

Many of the potential challengers represent the kind of grassroots activism and right-wing populism in the Republican base that Gilmore capitalized on in his bid to return to power last year.

Gilmore said throughout the county there is a growing dissatisfaction for its delegation of Republican state legislators. He said at least some of the county’s representatives at the statehouse in Trenton are ineffective where the needs of their constituents are concerned and are seen to be weak advocates for causes important to the people of Ocean County. The fact that the GOP is in the minority in both the state Senate and Assembly is not an excuse for apathy, Gilmore explained. The entire Legislature is on the ballot in 2023.

This year, Gilmore has made clear there will be no preference given to many incumbents seeking reelection. As a consequence, more grassroots candidates and those who have embraced the firebrand populism of modern Republican Party politics, want to be considered for state and county offices in Ocean.

It remains to be seen how much of the chairman’s strategy is about actually cleaning house versus sending a reminder to those incumbents who wish to stay in power as to who is back in charge. As chairman, Gilmore could withhold the county organization’s support from any candidate he wishes.

Most, if not every incumbent legislator now seeking the chairman’s support had opposed his surprise comeback last summer, signing their names to a public endorsement for Sheriff Michael G. Mastronardy’s unsuccessful bid for chairman in the weeks before Gilmore defeated him on July 7, in a vote of 333 to 320 by the Ocean County Republican Committee.

The county GOP’s screening committee is scheduled to meet in the coming days, when they will interview applicants for county and state elected office. The committee will then make recommendations to party leaders. Their annual mini-convention is next month. At the convention, with the endorsements in hand, the county Republican council will vote on which candidates get the party’s coveted official ballot line in the June primary — and all of its institutional support, including an impressive fundraising apparatus and the kind of professional campaign operation that comes with such anointed legitimacy.

Over fears of what the future holds or just because they have had enough, some longtime Ocean County elected officials are already calling it quits.

Last week, county Commissioner Joseph H. Vicari announced he was retiring after more than 40 years in elected office, when his 14th triennial term on the Board of Commissioners expires next New Year’s Eve. Last month, state Sen. Christopher Connors, R-Lacey, announced he would not seek reelection this year after more than three decades in the Legislature.

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After Connors made his intentions clear, Gilmore moved quickly to clear the field for Berkeley Mayor Carmen F. Amato Jr. to run for the 9th Legislative District Senate seat. A popular mayor, Amato last won reelection with almost 80% of the vote against his Democratic opponent in 2019. He remained steadfastly loyal to Gilmore long after others had deserted him.

Within days of Amato’s announcement he would run for Senate, Gilmore secured an important endorsement for Amato from his only serious rival — Assemblyman Brian E. Rumpf, who has been Connors’ running mate.

On Monday, county businessman Frank Sadeghi, another close Gilmore ally, announced his bid to succeed Vicari as commissioner. Two other potential candidates for Vicari’s seat include Berkeley Councilman James J. Byrnes (who is also screening for an Assembly seat in the 9th District) and former Brick Councilman Michael Thulen Sr.

When Gilmore was forced to resign as chairman four years ago after his conviction on federal tax and banking charges, Sadeghi was Gilmore’s hand-picked successor. However, Sadeghi lost the subsequent special election for chairman by 25 votes to accountant Frank B. Holman III. Last summer, Gilmore succeeded Holman — who had concluded that one term as chairman was enough and then moved to Florida — more than a year after Donald Trump pardoned Gilmore in one of his final acts as president.

Sadeghi’s formal announcement Monday came through Tom Bonfonti, Gilmore’s former executive director of the county GOP in the late 2010s. Bonfonti is now an associate director with National Public Affairs, the political consulting firm of Trump’s former campaign manager and White House political director, Bill Stepien.

Gilmore has always acknowledged that Stepien is the most important figure — after Trump himself — in having made his presidential pardon possible. Last year, Gilmore retained Stepien’s services to supervise the Republican reelection bids of the Ocean County sheriff and Board of Commissioners.

Among the candidates asking to be considered for higher office this year include Toms River Regional Board of Education member Ashley Lamb, who ran for county commissioner in the 2022 Republican primary against incumbents Jack Kelly and Virginia E. Haines as an “America First Republican.” A year ago, the county GOP was so spooked by her insurgent candidacy that Holman and state Assemblyman Gregory P. McGuckin, R-Toms River, authorized a private investigator to tail her and her husband, Toms River Councilman Justin Lamb.

After Gilmore resumed the chairmanship of the county GOP, he publicly exposed the private investigation into the Lambs and condemned the actions of his predecessor and McGuckin’s role in the matter — filing a lawsuit last summer against both Holman and McGuckin, among others who ran the organization in his absence. That litigation has since been settled and the case dismissed.

At the time the suit was filed, McGuckin called Gilmore “a convicted liar who suffers from an admitted mental illness, and someone in severe financial distress who managed to escape federal prison only due to his political connections…”

This year, Ashley Lamb is going after McGuckin’s job in the Legislature.

Stafford Mayor Gregory E. Myhre came to power in 2018 on the promise to “make Stafford great again,” ending the political career of his predecessor, John Spodofora, who had been a fixture in local politics since the 1980s. Myhre and his slate of pro-Trump council candidates had defeated Spodofora and his Republican establishment ticket in the June GOP primary of that year. Now, he may try again at the state level.

Myhre has submitted his name to be screened for Assembly in the 9th District, despite the fact that Rumpf and Assemblywoman DiAnne C. Gove, R-Barnegat, have no intention of going anywhere. Gilmore has recently mentioned Myhre favorably, and as a potential candidate for higher office.

The list of candidates who have requested to be screened for legislative and county offices in Ocean County on Saturday are:

9th Legislative District

State Senate

• Carmen Amato

State Assembly

• James Byrnes

• Mark Dycoff

• DiAnne Gove*

• Valerie Maffei-Smith

• Tim MacDonald

• Gregory Myhre

• John Novak

• Brian Rumpf*

10th Legislative District

State Senate

• Jim Holzapfel*

State Assembly

• Geri Ambrosio

• John Catalano*

• Ashley Lamb

• Cathy Lindenbaum

• Greg McGuckin*

12th Legislative District

State Senate

• Owen Henry

• Sam Thompson*

State Assembly

• Rob Clifton*

• Salvatore Giordano

• Alex Sauckie*

30th Legislative District

State Senate

• Robert Singer*

State Assembly

• Sean Kean*

• Ned Thomson*

Ocean County Surrogate

• Jeff Moran*

Ocean County Board of Commissioners

• James Byrnes

• Frank Sadeghi

• Mike Thulen Sr.

*Denotes incumbent.

Each legislative district is represented by one state senator and two Assembly members; therefore, voters registered as a Democrat or Republican will nominate one candidate from their party to run for the Senate and two candidates from their party to run for the General Assembly when they go to the polls in New Jersey’s June 6 primary election. Ultimately, the Democratic and Republican nominees will run against one another in the Nov. 7 general election.

With the retirement of Vicari coming at the end of 2023, one seat is open on the Ocean County Board of Commissioners this year.

Contact Asbury Park Press reporter Erik Larsen at elarsen@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Ocean County GOP: Republican candidates being screened by Gilmore